New approach to allergies: hookworm therapy


	New approach to allergies: hookworm therapy

jklugman

7-1-2008 1:00 PM

147 views

tags:

allergies, asthma, hookworm, medicine, biology

jklugman says:

I have allergies and asthma, but I think I'll pass on this treatment.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/0936ae25-f411-463e-9a71-ced3a84e6df5/61F4FF67-8540-4D4B-AAF1-D2A3435AAFF7/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01prof.html?8dpc=&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214931314-DtK15DHsiG1DzhezzIz54g" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01prof.html?8dpc=&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214931314-DtK15DHsiG1DzhezzIz54g" style="font-size: 11px;">www.nytimes.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01prof.html?8dpc=&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214931314-DtK15DHsiG1DzhezzIz54g"><P>Nearly 20 years later, his musing began to come to fruition. After Dr. Pritchard’s self-infection experiment, the National Health Services ethics committee let him conduct a study in 2006 with 30 participants, 15 of whom received 10 hookworms each.  Tests showed that after six weeks, the T-cells of the 15 worm recipients began to produce lower levels of chemicals associated with inflammatory response, indicating that their immune systems were more suppressed than those of the 15 placebo recipients. Despite playing host to small numbers of parasites,  worm recipients reported little discomfort. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01prof.html?8dpc=&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214931314-DtK15DHsiG1DzhezzIz54g"><P>Trial participants raved about their allergy symptoms disappearing. Word about the study soon appeared online among chronic allergy sufferers, and a Yahoo group on “helminthic therapy” sprung up. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/01/health/research/01prof.html?8dpc=&_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1214931314-DtK15DHsiG1DzhezzIz54g"><P>“Many of the people who were given a placebo have requested worms, and many of the people with worms have elected to keep them,” Dr. Pritchard said. </P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/61F4FF67-8540-4D4B-AAF1-D2A3435AAFF7/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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